Q: What do I get for the Web designer who has everything?

The short answer is real estate.

The slightly longer answer is, anything that helps spark their creativity.

The long answer is that, whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or another December holiday (I prefer Saturnalia myself) the Winter Solstice is traditionally a time of gift giving. So, what to give to that Web designer you know who has everything they need to actually make Web sites?

Here are 10 ideas for gifts they will love but not expect.

NOTE: All prices are in US Dollars and rounded to the nearest dollar.

1. Icons Web Design Books by Taschen

Taschen Web Design book from their Icons series.

$10/each

Taschen makes beautiful books. They make especially beautiful books about visual design, and the books in their Web Design series are chock full of cool Web sites with brief, to the point descriptions. I like to pick these up while I’m brainstorming to get ideas and inspirations.

At 10 bucks a copy, they also make an inexpensive gift or great stocking stuffer. Get these online from Taschen, Amazon, or Powels or find them in a local book shop.

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Tags: Web Design by jason
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Q: Should I use Hex or RGB values to define colors in CSS?

Adobe's Kuler Web application lets you choose a color palette and see each colors value in multiple formats, including HEX and RGB.

The short answer is RGB.

The slightly longer answer is that Hex values have become the de facto standard for use in CSS code and both developers and designers are used to them.

The long answer is that, in the final design on the screen, there is no difference between using Hex or RGB values in your code. Which system you use is really a matter of you own personal preference (and those of the team you are working with) as to whether or not you use Hex or RGB values to define colors.

Tags: Web Design by jason
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Q: Are there alternatives to Arial, Times, and Georgia for Web designers?

Web Safe Fonts Desktop

The short answer is YES!

The slightly longer answer is that most designers use Arial, Times, or Georgia, and, to a lesser degree, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Courier, and Comic Sans because they think that’s all they have at their disposal, but they are wrong.

The long answer is that the core Web fonts (the one listed above plus Impact and Web Dings) are used because they are almost guaranteed to be installed on the vast majority of computers your designs are likely to be installed on. One fact of life in Web design is that unless the end user’s computer has access to the font file, then the browser cannot use it.

Read the full article on Peachpit.com »

List of Web Safe Fonts »

Download Web Safe Fonts Desktop »

Tags: Typography, Web Design by jason
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Q:What is the practical difference between px (pixel) and em (pronounced m)? When is it best to use one over the other?

The short answer is that pixels measure dimensions relative to the screen while ems measure dimensions relative to type size.

The slightly longer answer is that pixels are the natural unit for measuring dimensions on a screen and are often used when precise deign is required. Ems are the natural unit for measuring type and used when you want to allow maximum design flexibility.

The carpenter’s adage goes “measure twice, cut once,” but carpenters deal with the physical universe where a board always stays the same length once it has been put into place. Many designers want to define with exact precision the placement and size of elements, similar to the way they might design for print or video. Those medium are static, even video, which might move and be projected on to larger screens, but the aspect ratio does not change so everything is scaled relatively. However, on the Web, you are dealing with a variable canvas, with its final size dependent on the whims of the viewer.

Read the Full Article on Peachpit.com »

Tags: CSS, Typography, Web Design by jason
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This week I had two different articles go out on different blogs.

The first was over on Peachpit.com where I’m writing a weekly blog now called “Ask the Web Designer“. This week I answered the very basic question “What is a Web designer?” Answer: Everybody. Here’s a bit more of my answer:

The long answer is that a good Web designer is a good design, and this can come “naturally” or from training, but is not medium dependent. However, a professional Web designer has to understand the medium well enough to know it’s strengths and limitations. Any designer can pump out something that looks brilliant when displayed in a Web browser window, but is slow to load, static when loaded, and completely unusable.

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I also finally had an article I wrote weeks ago published in Webdesigner Depot with 5 (really 6) new CSS3 techniques that work in several browsers. However, since none of the browsers that supported the techniques included any version of IE and even though I went to great pains to explain that up front and talk about using these to enhance designs, the post caused quite a lot of heated discussion around using anything that doesn’t work in the browser that “everyone” is using. Here’s a typical comment in that vein:

While not developing for IE may work for you, most clients I’ve had still use IE. I do think if people start using these new techniques in sites it may help push IE to support the new techniques, yet I won’t be able to use them until they work for my clients.

Overall, the comments were positive, though, and I hope that the article will get some good discussions started around Web designers supporting a Web browser that seems hell bent on not supporting Web design.

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Tags: CSS, Web Design by jason
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